[Combined heart and kidney transplantation in Fabry's disease: Long-term outcomes in two patients]

INTRODUCTION

Fabry disease is a lysosomal storage disorder linked to an alpha-galactosidase A deficiency that can lead to heart and kidney failure. There is little data about the prognosis of patients who undergo a combined heart and kidney transplantation.

CASE REPORTS

Two brothers who were diagnosed with Fabry disease after the age of 30 years underwent a combined heart and kidney transplantation at respectively 49 and 42 years of age because of a severe hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with end stage renal failure. They are alive respectively 4 and 9 years after the transplantation. No recurrence of the disease in the transplanted organs has been found.

CONCLUSION

Combined heart and kidney transplantation in Fabry disease is an efficient therapy for the cardiomyopathy and kidney failure. Its prognosis can be good when the patients are carefully selected. However, an early diagnosis is critical in order to avoid a procedure associated with a high perioperative mortality.

[Lupus nephritis: up-to-date]

Renal involvement is frequent during natural history of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and has a major prognostic value in this systemic disease. Screening for renal symptoms, such as proteinuria, micro-haematuria or renal failure must be performed at initial diagnosis and repeated during subsequent follow-ups. Any significant abnormality of these parameters may reveal active glomerulonephritis (GN) and should lead to a renal biopsy, which will significantly impact the therapeutic choices. Proliferative GN, defined as class III or IV by the actual histo-pathological classification, is the most severe form of SLE-associated nephropathy and can lead to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in up to 60% of cases, according to ethnicity and follow-up duration. Standard induction treatment of active proliferative GN includes corticosteroids combined with an immunosuppressive drug, which can either be cyclophosphamide or mycophenolate mofetil (MMF). Even though, recent biotherapies have not yet proved their efficacy in the field of lupus nephritis, new protocols are expected, aiming higher remission rates and avoidance of high-dose corticosteroids regimens. When remission is achieved in proliferative GN, a maintenance therapy is required to decrease the risk of relapse, using either azathioprine or MMF. Immunosuppressive drugs are responsible for an increased risk of infectious or neoplastic complications but cardiovascular disease is actually one of the main causes of mortality among lupus patients, especially for patients with SLE-related kidney disease, well before reaching ESRD.